The Secret Hidden in Sangaku
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"Quted Text" speech
"Iitalic Text"characters thought
"Bold Text" Demon talking
Author's note
The idea for this story came about because a lot of fanfiction writer on this sight seem to think that Hinata would have had a hellish life if she would have been kidnapped by Kumo and showcase the Raikage as a power hungry tyrant. However what they've been showing in the manga seems to lean more toward the opposite. When you add that many of the ninja in Kumo seem just as crazy (Bee) as the ninja in Konoha I started wondering how growing up in Kumo would have been really been like for Hinata.
This story will be mostly AU with characters from Konoha making appearances including a certain blonde ;).
With that, tell me what you think, and enjoy.
It all started when Kumo decided to sign a peace treaty with Konoha. Konoha gladly agreed and requested that Kumo send an ambassador to come and sign the treaty. The reality however was that Kumo was using the treaty as a means to obtain the Byakugan. Originally the plan was to send the head ninja of Kumo however faith decided to mix things up a bit.
Flashback
Yugito Nii was able to finish her mission weeks earlier than expected, thanks to the fact that the group of rouge shinobi that were raiding caravans in the north western region of lighting country were dumb enough to come at her head on. Considering that she was currently walking to the Kage Tower with a bloody sack that contained their severed heads while whistling a happy tone, it was quite clear how that fight went.
As what usually happened when she walked down the street she noticed the typical glares, parents hiding their children from her, and the usual offensive comments whispered at her. She was used to it by now figuring it came with being a jinchūriki.
Once Yugito arrived at the Raikage's office she noticed him sitting behind his desk with five stacks of neatly organized papers that towered to his chest. He wore black pants with, his white Kage robe adorning his shoulders.
Yugito proceeded to casually walk in, took a seat in the chair in front of his desk, and threw the bag of severed heads onto his desk, completely obliterating the neatly organize piles of paper he had spent all night working on.
"YUGITO WHAT THE HELL! Do have any idea how long it took me to finish this!" Multiple tick marks began to appear on A's face as he was forced to suppress the urge to throw Yugito across the village.
"What's the big deal? Just get some Genin to clean it up." She said completely ignoring A's rage.
"Ugh I take it your mission went well." He said while sitting back into his seat.
"I'll say. I didn't even have to track them down. They went straight to me." After an approving shake of his head A began to eye Yugito with a suspicious air.
"Yugito you and me both know that you didn't need to deliver the heads to me directly so what are you really here for?"
A small smirk appeared on the kunoichi's face."Glad to see their some brains under all that muscle."
A stared daggers at her. "Yugito I'm warning you."
Yugito raised her hands defensibly. "Ok ok clam down. It's about the upcoming peace treaty with Konoha."
A seemed intrigued. "What about it?"
"I want in," Yugito said getting straight to the point. A raised an eyebrow at this.
"Yugito, diplomacy isn't exactly what I'd call one of your strong points. A mission like this needs manners that you don't have."
Suddenly a sly smirk crossed her face. "The side mission is what really interests me Lord Raikage."
A's eye narrowed at this. "What are you implying?"
Yugito thenrose from her seat and casually walked around the room with her hands behind her back.
"Oh I don't know. Maybe how Kumo is using this treaty to get a Byakugan as a souvenir."
After hearing this A instantly brought his hands into a hand seal that activated a jutsu that made his office sound proof. Once he was done he walk straight up to Yugito and bore holes straight through her. "How did you find out and why the interest?"
"That'll be my little secret as to why, it's because I heard you're going to make that idiot Ryou handle the mission."
A was confused by this.
"He's the head ninja of our village. Why wouldn't I send him on this mission?"
The temperature dropped as Yugito sent a massive amount of killing intent as she looked straight into A's eyes. "Something this important and you're giving it to a Jonin that spends more time at his desk then in the field? Konoha isn't some weakling village. They will find out that Ryou kidnapped a Hyūga, they willsend ANBU after him, they will find him, and there's no way Ryou can take on a group of ANBU; but I can."
A continued to stare her down, not affected in the slightest by Yugito's killing intent.
"First off we both know that only the top ninja of the village gain the rank of Jōnin. I won't have you disrespecting one. Second, although not the best fighter he's a master at infiltration. By the time Konoha realize what he's done he'll be long gone."
"He'll still need backup if he gets caught," Yugito countered.
"And that backup isn't going to be you." A said leaving no room for discussion.
"Why the hell not!" Yugito demanded.
"The village can't risk losing you," A said as if it was obvious.
"You send me on a suicide mission every six months!" Yugito refuted
"Just because it's an S-rank mission doesn't make it suicide."
Sick and tired of their little talk Yugito decided to try a bribe. "Ok how about this, if you let me do this mission…I'll stop putting mangled body parts on your desk."
A shook his head. "No."
"Ok, I'll do your paper work for a month."
A thought about it for a moment. "Hmm tempting…..but forget it. You're far too valuable to risk falling into Konoha's hands."
Yugito then started to shake her head.
"I didn't want do this but you give me no choice" She then proceeded to take out a picture and slipped it to A. Upon seeing said picture he looked as if he was about to have a stroke. "H-h-how did you get this?"
"That is my little secret, but if you don't let me do the mission pictures like these will pop up all around Kumo."
A growled in frustration and face palmed. "Fine you can go! But you better not die on me." Yugito had a big grin plastered on her face. "Please in case you forgot cats have nine lives." With that she left to prepare for her latest mission.
Flashback ends
And that's what led to Yugito now dressed in all black, holding a burlap sack, and leaping over the walls of the Hyūga compound. Yugito took a quick peek of the map of the Hyuga compound before she passed through the Hyuga courtyard and made her way into the main branch quarters.
Like a ghost Yugito began making her way inside. After going through the room after room Yugito finally made her way to the sleeping quarters.
"Ok the room should be here."
Picking the room to the far right she made her way in. She entered a lavishly decorated room and saw a little girl no older the three sleeping soundly.
"Jack pot."
Yugito went over to get a better look. The girl wore a simple white-gray night gown with short dark blue hair and a few strands framing her face.
"Lets' see, young, unsealed, she's perfect, and a cutey to boot."
Yugito quickly placed the little girl under a sleeping genjutsu and gently placed her in the sack. When the girl was secured Yugito vanished out the window. When she reached the wall Yugito used chakra to careful climb over the and land on the other side.
"Now to get the hell out oF…FUCK!"
Before she could get even twenty feet from the wall Yugito was face to face with a Hyūga and he didn't seem surprised to see her either. Without a word Yugito made a run for it, the Hyūga right behind her.
"This is foolish." Those three words continually repeated themselves in Hiashi's mind as he chased down the ninja that was attempting to abduct his daughter. All he had to do was alert the village and the ANBU would hunt her down in minutes but he knew he wouldn't. It was selfish but he needed to prove to himself as a clan head that he could protect his clan, and as a father that he could protect his family. So without a word he chased her into the forest. Hiashi quickly began to close the gap between him and Yugito. Hiashi readied to strike her down when a group of kunai forced him to leap back. From the ground Hiashi saw double as another Yugito was facing him with a giant scroll on her back, while the one he was pursuing had a face of relief.
"So not only do you have the audacity to kidnap my daughter, but to steal the forbidden scroll as well."
Yugito smiled at Hiashi's rant.
"What can I say I love two for one sales."
Still facing Hiashi, Yugito tosses the scroll to her clone." You get out of here, I'll handle this guy." With a nod the clone ran off.
With visible anger Hiashi went into the gentle fist stance. "For your crimes you will die."
Yugito readied a hand sign. "We'll see about that."
Hiashi charged in but Yugito shot a stream of fire. Hiashi easily dodged the attack and charged toward Yugito. Within a second Hiashi had completely closed the distance between them and was face to face with her.
"You're in my range of vision. TRIAGRAM 64 PALMS!" Hiashi unleashed a bombardment of palm strikes.
"Two palms!"
"Four palms!"
"Six palms!"
"Eighteen palms!"
"Sixty four palms!"
The final blast sent Yugito flying across the forest and landing in a heap on the floor.
"Damn it, he sealed off my chakra." Yugito slowly began to pick herself off the ground when she suddenly felt a massive palm strike slam into her back, knocking her back to the ground. Hiashi scanned to see if she still had any fight left, but after seeing her eyes had rolled into the back of her head he knew she was done.
Hiashi was about to run off to catch the clone when he felt a wave of malevolent energy. He turned to where it was coming from and saw it was coming from Yugito. A swirling blue chakra with a mind of its' own began to pick Yugito's unconscious body off the floor and wrapped around her.
"That charka, it's just like the chakra of the fox."
Beads of sweat began to form on his face as he realized he wasn't facing an ordinary ninja. By now the chakra had Yugito on all fours with a chakra tail wagging behind her. A voice that wasn't Yugito's came from her mouth
"Free…must…seek…VENGEANCE!"
Yugito charged full speed at Hiashi, seeking to rip him apart. Hiashi was barely able to match her speed as he blocked and swerved from her savage assault. Seeing an opening he put all his strength into a palm strike to her face and was rewarded with a resounding snap as Yugito's head bent at unnatural angle.
There was a long pause. Hiashi stayed at the ready, when with eerie slowness Yugito loudly snapped her head back in place. Hiashi was truly terrified.'
"What is this thing?"
Yugito roared and shot a chakra claw straight at Him.
"Eight Trigram Palms Revolving Heaven!" Hiashi shot chakra throughout his body and created a dome of chakra around him, shielding him from the attack. Even though the dome stopped the attack Yugito kept pressing and putting everything she had into breaking the dome.
"Must hold on…"
Unable to take the pressure the dome collapse and the claw blasted right to Hiashi pinning him to the ground. Not missing a beat Yugito pounced on him and began to wildly claw at him.
"Almost free! Almost-" The blue chakra suddenly dispersed, allowing Yugito to regain conciseness.
"What the hell happened?" Yugito suddenly realized that she was standing over Hashi's tattered body covered in blood
"Damn it! I lost control again. There's no way no someone wouldn't sense such a chakra spike. I got to get out of here." Yugito got off of Hiashi and ran as fast as she could to where she last felt her clone.
After a few minutes she meets up where her clone should have been only to find the scroll and the sack laying on the floor.
"Hm must have dispersed when that guy knocked me out."
She was about to reach for them when she realized just how much blood was on her. With so much that a tracker could easily find her so she readied a series of hand signs.
"Fire cleansing." A blue flame engulfed Yugito's body, burning away any traces that she was covered in blood a few moments ago. Satisfied she was clean she deactivated the jutsu, fastened the scroll on her back, grabbed the sack and jumped into the trees.
After a few hours of jumping from tree to tree Yugito still couldn't believe she almost lost. If it wasn't for her beast she probably would've been captured by ANBU. She was snapped out of her ponderings when the burlap sack over her right shoulder began to move.
"Ugh, she shouldn't have woken up so soon" She then grudgingly stopped her sprint and jumped down to the forest floor.
"Alright let's see what's going on." After taking off her mask she opened the sack and revealed the little girl inside, her eyes showing a mixture of fear and confusion. Yugito was about to place her back under the sleeping genjutsu when she noticed a bruise on the girl's cheek.
"That wasn't there before. The clone must have dropped her when she dissipated."
Yugito then using some of her medic know-how she gained over the years to try and stop the swelling. Seeing how scared the girl looked, Yugito took her out of the sack and she sat her down next to her and tried to start a conversation.
"Hello I'm Yugito Nii. What's your name?" She said in the most nonthreatening way she could think of. The girl just ducked her head down and shyly fiddled with her fingers.
"Great this one's shy." Yugito did a quick brainstorm until she remembered the girl's name. "Is your name Hinata?"
The girl nodded her head.
"Well it's nice to meet you, How are you?" Yugito stopped when she sensed the presence of an approaching enemy.
"Look like the AMBU finally found me." With a few quick hand seals an identical copy of Yugito appeared next to her.
"Hinata I need you to hop onto this me's back ok?" When Hinata was safely on the clone's back they were off. Yugito prepared for the approaching treat.
Seven ANBU accompanied by a massive dog silently made their way toward Yugito's position. "Blood hound are you sure you found the target?"
"Positive Captain, both me and Saya are positive it's Hinata-sama's scent." The leader then looked at an ANBU wearing a Hawk's mask. "Hawk do you have a visual yet?"
"Yes Captain my Byakugan just saw her. It appears she just made a clone to go on with the scroll and Hinata-sama and she's heading straight for us."
"Can you tell what village she's from?"
"She's wearing a stone headband."
"Ok Otter go on ahead and intercept the clone. Stingray, use your poison and Mantis use your bugs to cripple her, Salamander use long range ninjutsu, Hawk, blood hound, and I will confront her directly."
"YES MAM," all six shouted in unison and moved in position to catch their prey.
Yugito spat a dozen fist size fire balls from her mouth that floated around her; all with the same blue flame. With a wave of her hand she sent them out to intercept the ANBU and followed right behind them. "Lets she how they like my homing fireballs."
It wasn't long before the ANBU noticed Yugito's attack. "Captain we have incoming fireballs!" Warned Hawk.
"Scatter!" All seven manage to avoid the initial pass but didn't expect for the fireballs to come back right back at them and explode.
Yugito arrived right when the smoke cleared when an ANBU appeared from the smoke and went to grab her. Yugito pulled out a Kknai and stabbed her in the chest only for her to turn into a swarm of bugs that covered her feeding off her chakra. Thinking fast she prepared another jutsu. "Fire amour jutsu"
Instantly blue flame covered her body and incinerated the bugs. Then she found herself dodging two spinning tornadoes coming at her from all directions. She was so focused on dodging the mini tornadoes she failed to notice the massive wave of water aimed at her and got hit full force by the blast, knocking her down to the forest floor.
Stingray then throw a hail of Kunai lased with poison at Yugito's location. Yugito expertly avoids the majority of the kunai and uses her own to deflect the rest. Yugito then pulled out a set of blue kunai and threw them at Stingray who dodge them, but was caught in the explosion when they detonated and was sent flying.
"Stingray!" The leader watched as he fell to the forest floor. "Salamander go and check on Stingray." She commanded, the remaining ANBU continued to use their numbers to overwhelm Yugito. Yugito found herself dodging swirling tornadoes, insects, sword strikes, and taijutsu attacks. Although she was holding her own Yugito realize they were slowly wearing her down.
"Time to take it up a notch."
Suddenly a blue shroud of chakra began covering Yugito's body. Her hands turned into claws with a single tale spouting out of her back. Using shear power Yugito unleashed a wave of chakra that pushed the ANBU back. As one, the ANBU recovered and rapidly surrounded Yugito from all sides, preparing for round two of this fight.
Yugito's clone was putting maximum effort in outrunning the current ANBU on her tail. Despite her best efforts she realized a battle would be inevitable. "Ok I have only one chance to do this so I better make it count"
"Hinata I'm going to need you to close your eyes and tuck your head in." Time seemed to slow down. The moment Hinata closed her eyes the ANBU burst out of the forest, katana drawn, ready to disperse the clone. In less than a second a blue shroud of chakra covered her right arm and formed a massive claw that backhanded the ANBU sending his limb form flying. Without missing a beat the clone continued toward the border. "You better hurry up me. At this rate your goanna get caught."
The battle quickly went in Yugito's favor after she began using her beast chakra. Now it was the ANBU that were on the offensive. Seeing Hawk and Mantis coming from both sides, the blue chakra around her arms enlarged turning into massive claws which she used to block both their attacks simultaneously, only for Blood Hound and his partner to attack her from behind. Once air-born she was brought back to earth by a chakra enhanced sword slash from the captain. The ANBU paused to see if they finished the job only for Yugito to jump right back up toward them, almost beheading the captain, forcing them to fall back again.
"What's wrong I thought you ANBU were supposed to be the elite? Is this all your capable of?" Yugito said in a taunting tone.
Avoiding close range combat the ANBU launched a barrage of long range attacks. Ready for this Yugito launched another volley of fireballs, deflecting their attacks, and forcing them to retreat once more. One managed to connect with Saya.
"SAYA!" Blood hound jumped to snatch his partner from the air and laid him on a nearby branch. Seeing his best friend burned and gasping for breath sent him into a rage. "YOU BITCH!" Blood hound charged at Yugito
"Blood hound no!" Before anyone could stop him Blood hound rushed at Yugito, who quickly blasted him with a stream of fire, taking him out of the fight. Hawk and Mantis attempted another combo only for Yugito to grab hold of Hawk and throw him into the incoming swarm of insects which drained him dry before Mantis could call them back. It was at this moment that Salamander appeared next to the captain. "Salamander how's Stingray?"
"He's stable but he'll need medical attention soon." After weighing her options the captain made a silent signal to fall back and the remaining ANBU vanished into the night.
The three remaining ANBU rushed in the direction the clone was seen heading in. "Captain why did you order us to disengage the enemy?" asked Salamander
"Remember our mission is to retrieve Hinata-sama and the forbidden scroll. At the rate the battle was going even if we managed to defeat that stone-nin, Hinata-sama and the scroll would be long gone." Salamander was still concerned. "But captain what do we do when she comes back?"
"For now just avoid her until we acquire the targets and get reinforcements." The captain then went and scanned the area.
"Mantis how far are we from Otter?"
"My insects tell me that were about 2 kilometers from his location."
"Alright lets…" The captain never got to finish her sentence as a swarm of fire balls surrounded them from all sides and engulfed them in a massive explosion. Five exhausted Yugitos came out of the forest examining the incapacitated ANBU.
"That's…what you get…for turning…you're back…on me." Taking a moment to catch her breath, Yugito ordered the four clones to go off in random directions, and hoped her gamble paid off. It was a real pain to damage the ANBU to the point where they'd live but were injured enough that they'd require immediate medical attention. Hopefully it would stop any more ninja from following her in order to aid their comrades. After her quick rest she headed to the planned meeting place to join up with her clone.
Yugito got to the meeting area and found Hinata and her clone eating over an open camp fire. Unable to believe the stupidity of the clone she went to give her a piece of her mind. Upon seeing Yugito the clone waved her over, offered her some of the food roasting over the fire which she accepted, and then received a punch on the head compliments of the original.
"Ow what was that for?" The clone asked while nursing her bump. "For lighting a fire, you do realize any ninja around is going to come and investigate that smoke signal you made?" asked the original.
"Please I'm pretty sure they'll be more interested in that fireworks display you made." The clone then pointed to the huge plumes of smoke in the distant made by Yugito's latest battle causing her to face fault. "Ok…but you still shouldn't have made a fire idiot!" Yugito said to try and save face.
"Well Hinata was hungry so I decided to get her something to eat." Yugito suddenly slumped to the ground. "Hey me you ok?" The clone asked.
"No. I used up just about all my chakra in that last fight. I don't think I can make it back to Kumo," Yugito said while patting heavily. The clone crossed her arms. "I know I did not just hear myself quit."
"Well do you have any ideas?" Yugito asked annoyed by the attitude her own clone was giving her. "As matter a fact I do. I looked around and there's a town nearby."
"Yeah, what's your point?"
"My point is." The clone then crouched down and whispered her plan in Yugito's ear.
A small caravan was making its way to the Land of Hot Water. In the back of one of the wagons was Yugito in a purple komon kimono with a white obi and a repeating design of moon lilies, playing her Shamisen, with Hinata sleeping on her lap, wearing a yellow komon kimono with a white obi with a repeating sun pattern.
She couldn't believe the clones plan worked. All she had to do was sneak into the nearby town, get a pair of kimonos, make Hinata's eyes the same as hers and hop on to the closest caravan heading toward Lighting Country. And considering how the two Konoha chūnin guarding the caravan haven't spotted them yet she felt sure they'd be safe for now.
Yugito had to admit, Hinata was growing on her. Although she was a little shy Yugito was impressed by how well she was handling the past few days and the fact that Hinata like hearing her shamisen, combine with the fact she was adorable made her a keeper.
"Hey what was that ANBU telling you back there?" One of the chūnin asked to his partner. Although Yugito continued to play her instrument, her focus was completely on the chūnin's conversation.
"To be on the look for anything out of the ordinary, apparently someone abducted the Hyūga heiress."
"What? Are you serious!"
"Yeah apparently someone snuck into their compound, stole her while she was sleeping, and took out Hiashi when he tried to stop them."
"They took out Hiashi!"
"Yeah and the seven ANBU that came after them"
"Were they able to catch them?"
"Afraid not, apparently they had to suspend the search to get the wounded medical attention."
"What do they expect us to do about it?"
"Nothing, we're just to report their location on frequency 5 if we spot them." Yugito mentally sighed. Typical good news bad news; the good news was Konoha didn't know where she was, the bad news is they're searching everywhere for her. For now the best option was to lay low till she got out of the country.
Yugito could finally relax. A few hours ago she crossed the border and was now in Land of Hot Water. Both of them were currently at a caravansary relaxing till their party started moving again.
"Finally I'm home free. Okay if I get going now I'd take me about 2 days to reach Kumo..."
"Attention everyone we should reach the city of Ideyu by night fall," The leader of the caravan announced. Yugito got excited when she heard this.
"Ideyu! I've always wanted to go and try out their hot springs. Too bad have to get…"A cheshire smile appeared on her face. "Well it would be uncomfortable for Hinata to ride on my back for two days. I guess I could just ride the caravan; it's heading near Kumo anyway. Plus it has been ages since I've had a vacation."
She then looked down toward Hinata. "I don't think she'll mind a little field trip"
Kumo
It's been two weeks since anyone in Kumo has heard word from Yugito. A had already sent search parties looking for her a week ago and was currently in a meeting with council members and distinguished ninja of the village on how to handle the situation. But just when they were about to start Yugito decided to walk in still wearing the kimono and carrying a sleeping Hinata. As soon as A saw her he went ballistic.
"YUGITO! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!"
"Shh! Quite! You'll wake her up." She whispered. A then noticed the girl she was carrying.
"Who's the girl you're carrying?" A asked, at this Yugito smiled and then went to show the sleeping form of Hinata. There was a collective gasp from the entire chamber.
A gave an approving nod. "Excellent job Yugito, but what took you so long?"
"Scenic route." Was all she said, although still irritated A was able to relax some since everything turned out fine.
"Well, all that matters is that you finished the mission." He then motioned for one of the Jonin in the room to approach Yugito.
"Hand over the girl to the Jonin here and we will give her to her surrogate family."
With a heavy sigh, Yugito went and looked at Hinata one last time.
"Well I'll see you later little Hinata." She then tried to give Hinata to the Jonin but Hinata refused to let go of her.
"Come on Hinata, don't worry I'll see you again." Yugito tried to calm the girl down but Hinata just shook her head and refused to let go. With no choice Yugito was forced to pry the girl off and put her in the arms of the waiting Jonin.
Hinata began to panic and desperately tried to grasp for Yugito but to no avail. Unable to take the heartbreaking sight Yugito turned her back on Hinata and began to walk out the door. Seeing the only person she knew in the entire room leaving, Hinata yelled as high as her lungs could allow her. "Mommy don't leave!"
At this Yugito stopped right in her tracks. For the two weeks they were traveling Hinata never called her mom. Before she could even realize what happened, at full speed she sprinted over to the Jonin holding Hinata, snatched her out of his arms and punched him across the room. She began to hold Hinata against her chest, whispering words of assurance.
The entire chamber was shocked to silence. A being the first to recover got out of his seat and began radiating killer intent the whole room could feel."Yugito you better explain yourself right now!"
Yugito murmured something that no one could hear.
"Would you mind repeating that?" A demanded.
"I said I'll take care of her." She then began to release killer intent of her own into the chamber. "And I'll kill anyone who says otherwise"
The whole chamber was in an uproar due to Yugito's statement with the majority completely against the very idea. One of the younger members of the Council stood up.
"I'm against this! Hyūga Hinata should go to a proper family. Yugito's own clan turned their back on her after she lost control and killed her own father. If she ever loses control like that again it would cost the village the Byakugan!"
After this comment an older woman with dark skin and aging gray hairs stood up.
"I object to that statement. Everyone in this chamber knows there were extreme circumstances surrounding the incident of Yugito's murder of her father. Furthermore I would like all the members of this counsel who have children of their own to stand up."
About two thirds of the councils stood up, including A.
"Now I've lived a long life and had kids and they've had kids. Now I've seen Yugito quite a few times but this is the first time I've ever seen the look that she has now on her face, and that's the look of a loving mother that will fight to the death to protect her young."
At this many members of the Council began mumbling in agreement to her statement.
"Now I know in the past Yugito hasn't exactly shown herself to be a mother figure, in fact I myself thought that children should never even be sent near the woman. However it appears in the weeks that Yugito's had the Hyūga in her custody that has changed. Furthermore the girl herself already sees Yugito as her mother. Forcefully taking the girl away from her could cause permanent psychological damage that could make her useless to us later."
At this the whole Council chamber began into a loud discussion. A, realizing the headaches that he was going to get, gave a heavy sigh.
"Yugito, take Hinata and go outside. I will call you when we come to a decision."
It's been 45 minutes since Yugito left the chamber. While she waited she sat Hinata down in her lap and began showing her the pictures in a National Geographic magazine she found on one of the desk in the waiting room.
She couldn't help but smile as she saw the wonder on Hinata face as she flipped through the magazine.
"I sure do envy you right now. At this very moment a bunch of stiffs are discussing whether or not I'll be able to keep you, and you're sitting here right now with a smile on your face"
It was at this moment that A walked in from the chamber, his face hiding any guess to what the decision was. Yugito stood holding Hinata, her face clearly showing her anxiety.
"Yugito, the Council has decided that for the time being we will allow you to have custody of Hinata."
Yugito visibly relaxed after hearing these words.
"Now hold on, there are some guidelines you need to follow. First off, it came to the Council's attention that you're still living in the ninja barracks. Although that's acceptable for a single ninja it's not acceptable for mother and child, so it's been decided that you will move to a more suitable dwelling." He then tossed her a set of keys with a piece of paper attached to it.
"Here are the keys and the direction to your new home. Your things will be brought to you tomorrow and we expect you to purchase all things needed for a girl her age within the month." Yugito looked at the paper and was shocked to notice how the address was in one of the most prominent neighborhoods in Kumo.
"And here's the second guideline: if we catch wind of any slip up or anything that shows Hinata is no longer safe in your care she will be taken away from you."
Yugito shook her head in understanding and proceeded to head towards her and Hinata's new home.
"Yugito!" Yugito stopped in her tracks and turned toward A.
"You better not screw this up or it's both our necks." With a smile on her face she shook her head and walked out the room.
"And I expect a full mission report on my desk tomorrow!" With his two cents in, he headed up to his desk to finish some paper work." I hope you're happy because you'll be doing my paper work for the next month, for the headache you put me through."
As she left the Kage Tower with Hinata in her arms Yugito noticed the old woman who stood up for her in the Council chamber. She then went up to her. "Excuse me." Yugito called out, the old women turned to face Yugito.
"Yes my dear." she asked with a sweet voice.
"I… I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me in there." The old woman just gave a simple smile.
"There's no need to thank me dear I was just doing what was right."
Not satisfied with her response Yugito persisted. "But I still don't understand. You even said yourself that beforehand children should be kept away from me. What changed your mind all of a sudden?"
A frown appeared on the old women's face.
"If you must know my daughter was friends with your mother." An expression of shock crossed Yugito's face at this.
"At your mother's funeral I was there and I remember the look on your face then. You looked so sad and alone. My daughter told me how close you and your mother where and I could only imagine how heart wrenching it must have been for you for her to be taken away from you in the manner that she was."
Yugito just stood there with her head cast down and continued to listen.
"When it was time to decide what to do with you I offered to take care of you. But due to the fear that you'd lose control of you demon like you did that night I was overruled and it was decided that you'd instead be taken for intense training in order to fully control your beast. And sobecause I was helpless to prevent you from going through such horrible training at such a young age I swore that I do anything to help you." With nothing left to say the old women preceded to head home.
"Wait." Yugito called out, causing the women to stop and face her."You never told me your name."
The old women smiled. "Oh where are my manners? My name is Kaede"
"Well Kaede I was wondering if you and your daughter could help me go shopping for things that Hinata will need? I don't really have much experience in this so I could really use the help. Also maybe you could tell me stories about my mom? I'd love to hear them."
Kaede gave a smile that would light up a room. "I'm sure my daughter and I would be happy to help."
Yugito then gave Kaede a bow of thanks. "Thank you very much. Oh wait let me give you my new address."
"Oh they'll be no need for that"
"What do you mean?"
"You live right next door to me."
A knowing look crossed Yugito's face.
"You planned to help me from the start didn't you?" Yugito asked, more of a statement than a question.
Kaede just smiled.
"That's not important right now, it's late and I think it's time to take Hinata to your new home so she can get some sleep."
Seeing how right Kaede was and seeing how Hinata was barely holding on to consciousness, Yugito then preceded to head to the new home she and Hinata would be sharing from now on.
Yugito just arrived into one of the bedrooms of her new home. She quickly proceeded to dress Hinata in the night gown she wore the night she whisked her away from Konoha. She herself wore a simple large shirt she used to sleep in. With both of them ready for bed she laid Hinata on the bed and proceeded to join her as well.
Yugito spent much of the night simply gazing at Hinata, caressing her hair and imagining how their lives would be from now. She imagined dressing her in pretty kimonos, teaching her how to play the shamisen, walking her to and from the academy, teaching her about boys and chasing away every boy that came near her. The thought made her laugh. She didn't know what the future would hold for them but as long as she had Hinata with her she'd be ready to face anything the world threw her way.